Lorraine Dowd Grundvig, 91, passed on Jan. 8, 2021, at the home of her daughter, Paula Merz, after years of dealing with congestive heart failure.
Lorraine was born to Joseph and Lena Turner Dowd in a coal camp in Latuda, Utah. She truly was a “coal miner’s daughter.” She was a beloved wife, mother, grandma, great-grandma, great-great-grandma, sister and aunt.
Life was never easy for Lorraine. The week before she was born, the stock market crashed, leading to the Great Depression. Following her parents’ example, she learned how to work hard, something she did as long as her body would allow. In 1947, she married Arnold Grundvig, a hard-working man with the genius to fix anything. Their first apartment was a drafty little house in Wellington, but they soon moved to Price, where Arnold first worked in the coal mines and then at Redd Motors as a mechanic. Their firstborn child was born premature and died after 44 hours. Then came Arnold Jr. and Paula, followed by a stillborn daughter, Carla Lorraine.
When her uncle, Jack Turner, developed a uranium mine at Slickrock, Colorado, the family moved there, following her parents. Lorraine would become the camp cook, living in a tarpaper shack. The conditions were primitive, but she managed to cook three hearty meals a day for 26 men. She learned to make six loaves of bread and multiple pies at a time, but never got the hang of making a single loaf of bread or a single pie at a time. As a result, she shared her bread, rolls and pies with family and friends whenever she baked.
When the mine closed, the family moved to Moab and eventually built a new home. In time, Lorraine’s children Arnold and Paula each moved to Salt Lake City to go to school and started their own families. After decades of living in Moab, Lorraine and Arnold sold their home and moved to La Sal, where Arnold felled the trees to build his beautiful log home. As age slowed them down, the couple moved to South Salt Lake to be closer to their family and made many lasting friendships, which was their life-long nature.
When Arnold died in 2010, Lorraine was lost without him. They had done everything together for 63 years and now he was gone. Her children and grandchildren were there and took care of her, but her life was never the same. Even with family, she was a lonely widow for over ten years. When Lorraine’s strength began to fail, she lived with her daughter, Paula, who took amazing care of her even as her health and faculties declined dramatically. Paula’s heroic efforts certainly gave Lorraine extra years to enjoy time with her grandchildren.
Lorraine is survived by her only brother, Michael (Martha) Dowd of Peoria, Arizona; a sister-in-law, Janice Dowd of Smithfield, Utah; her son, Arnold Jr. (Barbara); her daughter, Paula Merz (Errol Pulsipher); her four grandchildren, Lorrie Lynn Hodson (Michael), Brigitte Hatt (Richard), Jeremy Grundvig (Bridgette), and Nicholas Grundvig (Juelee); her 13 great-grandchildren, Sabrina Hatt, Mikayla, Benjamin, Magdalena, Penelope, Abigail, Logan, Emmeline, Allison, and Linus Grundvig, Kellen Pappas (Brianna), Chandler Pappas (Shila), and Athena Tunney (Santana); and her 4 great-great-grandsons, Kyson, Dakota, Wyatt, and Peyton.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Arnold; her firstborn son, Gary Butch; her stillborn daughter, Carla Lorraine; and her firstborn grandson, Lyle Zeke Francis.
Graveside services were held on Jan. 15, 2021, at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.spanishvalleymortuary.com.
Lorraine Dowd Grundvig’s Raisin-filled Cookies
As a tribute to her reputation for baking, here is her recipe for her famed raisin-filled cookies:
Dough: Combine 2 cups white sugar, 1 1/3 cup shortening and 1 1/3 cup milk. Slowly add 2 tablespoons baking soda dissolved in water, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 teaspoons cream of tartar and 6 cups flour to the liquids. Blend well.
Filling: Grind or mix together 1 cup walnuts, 16 ounces of raisins, 1 ½ cups white sugar, ¾ cup flour and 1 cup hot water.
Roll out the dough, using more flour as needed, until you can cut cookie-size pastries. You will need a top and bottom for each finished cookie.
Spoon filling onto a dough piece and add the top side. Pinch the edges of the top and bottom together to keep filling inside.
Brush the top of each cookie with egg white and place on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes on a medium rack.
